Wading in again

Maybe I should just stay away and keep quiet about things I know too little about? The papers still write about Stieg Larsson and they repeat the by now well known facts about him and the dispute over money. And with the first film finally on general release in Britain, we get the next wave of much the same stuff. There was a blog in the Guardian written by someone who had read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but not seen the film, which makes her a bit of a non-expert. But if it’s not feminist enough, then I dare say it isn’t.

Otherwise sane people seek the moral high ground and declare they won’t see the film. Why? If it’s not very good (in their opinion, once they’ve seen it), then it’s surely no worse than many other crap films we all manage to see in our lifetime? It’s an 18, so perhaps that vouches for it being unsuitable? I would have taken Daughter along, had it not been rated 18. By that I mean it’s not legal for her to watch it, not that I didn’t want her to see the film.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to rant. At least not about the film. A couple of months ago I was a little taken aback at finding a character from The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest being interviewed in the Vi magazine. Kurdo Baksi leads a busy life these days, serving the memory of his dear friend Stieg Larsson. He’s most likely a charming man and genuinely fond of Stieg. But I always smell a rat when someone describes themselves in pretty much those terms.

On the other hand, I trust Vi to a great extent, and why would they write so positively about him if he’s not kosher? This paragon of a friend spends 75% of his time on Stieg’s memory, meeting journalists by the dozen every week. He travels to Spain and France where Stieg Larsson is huge. And he has naturally written a book about his pal. He sort of says nice things about Eva Gabrielsson.

Sort of. She doesn’t about him, in the interview in the Observer a few weeks ago. Eva has also written a book, and it’s one I wouldn’t mind actually reading. I suspect it would be good to finally read something from her point of view, something which hasn’t been edited by others. The Observer interview is fairly pro-Eva, but it does chew over the same facts again.

It’s reading about Eva and Stieg and their ‘normal’ existence (unless you count the death threats) before the Millennium books and Stieg’s death, which has reminded me of what Swedes can be like, and what many of my friends were like back in the olden days. It gives me hope at a time when it’s easy to despair and wonder what the world is coming to. And unlike me who may have had the political views, these two actually lived according to them.

On more recent occasions we have opted to shop, or merely browse, at the Scottish Antique & Arts Centre outside Doune, and then got in the car to have tea somewhere else. But then, it can be nice to sit … Continue reading →